Bretonische Bäuerin

In 1905, Jawlensky spent his summer in part in Brittany, and there executed a number of paintings which revealed the artist embarking on the Fauvist adventure that would lead to his most famous pictorial discoveries. Probably painted during this stay, Bretonische Bäuerin is an intriguing portrait of a Breton peasant woman, revealing the artist's interest in the human face as well as the increasingly bold colourism that was taking hold in his works and which would subsequently lead to his being hailed as one of the key pioneers of Expressionism in his adopted home, Germany.

The importance of this painting is reflected in its interesting early exhibition history, not least its inclusion in the 1908 Venok or Wreath exhibition in St. Petersburg which was organised by Sergei Diaghilev and was one of the milestones in the emergence of the Russian avant garde. Jawlensky retained strong links with his homeland until the revolution, as is reflected in this picture's featuring in that show. When exhibited there, it is thought that this picture may have featured under the title Die Bucklige, or the 'hunchback'. This was clearly an important theme for Jawlensky, as he would return to it in 1910, including a picture that he himself considered one of his masterpieces which shares compositional similarities with Bretonische Bäuerin. Ever since he had begun studying art, Jawlensky had taken a keen interest in the avant garde, finding ever more exciting boundaries being tested in Germany and in France. It has even been suggested that it was during the stay in France when he painted Bretonische Bäuerin that he met Henri Matisse for the first time. This was at the high-point of Fauvism, which Matisse had espoused and which would burst into the public consciousness at the Salon d'Automne in Paris that year. A new confidence entered Jawlensky's paintings during this period, resulting in a more fully developed and richer colourism, evidenced here in particular by the background. At the same time, the rich colours and the painting of the chair recall the work and influence of Vincent van Gogh, the forerunner of Expressionism and spiritual godfather of Fauvism. 'My art,' Jawlensky stated, reflecting both the mystical and the colourist aspects of his paintings, 'is simply a meditation or prayer in colour' (Jawlensky, quoted in C. Weiler, Jawlensky: Heads, Faces, Meditations, London, 1971, p. 64).
Until about this period, Jawlensky's flirtations with the avant garde had resulted in paintings which often feature an almost Pointillist treatment, whereas now the solid fields of colour are marked by an intensity and boldness that fills them with power, creating a far more striking visual impact, in part following from the conclusions that Cézanne had reached in his still life paintings. It is significant that this period in Jawlensky's career produced many still life images, allowing him to focus on still objects. However, his prevailing interest even in his earliest works had been the face, and this came to the fore in particular during his time in Brittany, as is reflected not only by Bretonische Bäuerin but also by the sketch of a man that is on the reverse.

This interest in portraiture would become almost talismanic in Jawlensky's art, as it developed into an almost mystical practice for him to capture human features through increasingly abstracted and stylised means, a unique evolution of the art of the Russian icon with which he had grown up in Russia. Jawlensky's interest in the religious painting of his native country found new permeations, and marked his belief that painting was more than representation, and could also provide a spiritual window for both artist and viewer. This interest is clearly reflected in an early incarnation in the mystic figure of the Bretonische Bäuerin, whose piercing gaze lends her the appearance of a seer.